The word Alaska conjures romantic images of the frozen north—igloos, dog sleds, giant bears, endless tundra—and with these images, a sense of physical extremity: our biggest state, our northernmost state, our highest mountains, our lowest temperatures. In parts of Alaska, the sun never goes down in the summer and never comes up in the winter. But alongside the natural beauty and stark physical majesty is an interesting and complex human history thousands of years old and full of interactions between different peoples and cultures. Alaska Natives, Russians, French, Spanish, English, Americans, Canadians, and Japanese have all staked a claim in this Northern land. In this On-the-Road History, Ryan Madden first explores Alaska Native cultures, then moves to the Russian influence, the early American period and the influence of gold, and finally, Alaska in the 20th century, with the impact of World War II, statehood, and the oil boom.

Raised in Palmer, Alaska, Ryan Madden is now an associate professor of history at Sheldon Jackson College in Sitka, Alaska. He has written about Alaska’s native population and World War II.